And the game was over. I don't remember playing that game of volleyball. Aeris served, Barret returned, Yuffie bumped, Aeris set, Tifa spiked, and that was it. My memory of that game is all a blur. Tifa claims the girls won. I believe her. Wait wait, something's coming back to me. I've been invited to surf with Barret and Dyne. Yes, it's all coming back. Okay here's what happened.
     "Service!" Aeris yelled while holding the yellow volleyball. She did a simple bump serve over the net to the boys' side. Barret, who has never played or even watched volleyball, ran at the ball, and hit it incredibly hard up in the air with enough arc to make it to the girls' side.
     "Uhhhh," Yuffie looked around nervously at the other girls.
     It's all yours girlfriend. It's in your area. See?
     Mother had drawn each of the girls a small box for what they are to hit. The boxes were completely non-proportional. Yuffie had the whole back area, Tifa and Aeris each had small slivers by the net, Marlene had a small corner off to the side where she was free to draw dirty pictures in the sand, and Mother's box was shaped to her exact shape. I guess that's so if it comes in her area, she won't have to move. It'll just bounce off of her, and then she's free to blame the other girls if things go wrong. There was another large box with nobody in it. Mother claimed that was for the girl that'll eventually ask if she can join in. Until then, we guys tried to aim to that box for the free point.
     "Oh gawd," Yuffie said frightened. "Here it comes. I hereby announce a preemptive ouch 'cause this is gonna hurt like a mother." She held her arms out in the classic volleyball bump style. The ball slammed down on her forearms and bounced back into the air. "YEEEOWWCHHHA!"
     "Mine," Aeris said calmly, and lightly set the ball parallel to the net to the awaiting Tifa.
     Yuffie started running in circles on the ground while holding her arms. "Ouchie ouchie ouchie ouchie ouchieeeee-"
     Tifa jumped up for the spike, and lemme tell you, everybody cheered for her wonderful spike. The girls cheered for the point. The boys, well, we cheered for the jumping and the spiking and the.... Anyway, we lost a point everytime Tifa spiked it, and that was often. We lost 15-2.
     "Yo man, dis game sucks," Barret said afterward. "Volleyball is such a spectata' sport. So Seph, ya wanna do what da real men do at the beach?"
     Sacrifice Seagulls? Count me in.
     "Nah man," Dyne said. "Sur-friken-ing!"
     Suring?
     "I think he means surfing, Mother. But uhh, guys? I don't have a board."
     "Neither do we," Barret said, "but those stoners do, and their boards are jus' stickin' out of da ground over there. Free fo' grabs when they can't see past they noses 'cause they so high."
     I shrugged and ran along side as we stole the surfboards from the stoners who were having more fun playing hot hands. We reached the water and dove in to the water on our boards and started paddling out.
     "Hey Barret," I said. "Why do all the other surfers have body suits? We've only got trunks. Will this be a problem later on?"
     "Yo man, you thinkin' too much. Jus' ride."
     "Yeah, okay then. I'm just kinda worried 'cause I've been in public places bare-ass more times than I care to remember."
     "All right," Dyne said. "I'll give you some advice that you'll use for the rest of my life. If ever you find your ass exposed, just remember, guys will shield their eyes, and girls will fall in love with you. I should know. That's how I met my wife."
     "That's a nice thought," I said, "but there's a lot of things wrong with what you just said. For starters, your wife did give birth to the antichrist." I pointed to the shore where Marlene (who was wearing a fake shark fin on her back) was throwing a crab (Frisbee style) at a group of giddy girls while at the same time giving a group of foreign tourists the finger. "Second, what about gay guys? I don't especially want them talkin' about seeing me exposed. Finally, what if I'm in a bad environment for showing off? Somewhere with cold, wet breezes. Somewhere like the beach."
     "Oh no problem. If things go wrong, just dive into the water."
     "That sounds like a bad idea, but whatever. Here comes a wave."
     Maple Bonsai!
     Mother was body surfing right beside me as we successfully stood up on our boards and headed into the shore. Mother wiped out immediately. The rest of us rode for a good distance longer. It was a blast, up until that bad thing happened. I'll bet you'll never guess what happened. Okay, you probably did. I was right, my shorts flew off in the complete opposite direction. They completely ripped off of me. But of course Barret and Dyne's shorts were fine. I started getting closer to the shore, closer to viewing distance, and freaked out. I twisted my board to intentionally fall off, when suddenly I heard a familiar voice.
     "Four or something," Reno yelled from the water. I apparently surfed right into a game of Dodge Board and Reno's board had a one-way ticket to my forehead. The board reached its destination and knocked me flat on my back on my board. I feared I was going to ride into shore bare-ass, but that fear was gone when my board hit a wave and flipped me over into the water. I was conscious enough to stay afloat, but as I was doggie-paddling, I saw a shark fin and a snorkel approach me. Marlene's head quickly shot out of the water while she took off her giant goggles and spat out her snorkel.
     "HOLY HELL!" She screamed so the entire beach could hear. "Seph's piece is floatin' free in da water! He's gonna molest me! Help help! White girl in distress!"
     I thought I was extremely screwed at this point, but then, my savior came. Tseng. He dove in near me, took off his own trunks, put them on me (don't ask how 'cause I won't tell), laid me on his surfboard, and pushed me toward the shore. I don't know what Tseng planned to do about his own trunks, but he really didn't seem to care. He went on playing Dodge Board with what looked like my ripped shorts which he'd tied back together with the drawstring. So I guess everything works out... temporarily...